Tag: learning

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Mentoring Moment: Building Trust Through the MENTOR Model: Creating Psychological Safety in Every Conversation

By: Tracy Rogness, Organizational Stewardship Lead, and Tina Henne, Early Career Development Lead

Psychological safety is an individual’s mental and emotional state, shaped on how they perceive and respond to their environment, and free from interpersonal fear. Silence is only one visible symptom of low psychological safety, while many others remain hidden in the form of mental withdrawal, emotional suppression, and subtle avoidance behaviors. It’s a critical element in fostering trust, collaboration, and growth in any relationship, especially in mentoring. When both mentors and mentees have high levels of psychological safety, they feel empowered to be authentic, share vulnerabilities, and engage in open, honest dialogue. This creates a foundation for deeper learning and mutual development.

The MENTOR model is a thoughtful framework designed to foster psychological safety and create meaningful, transformative mentoring relationships. Each component of the model represents a key principle that mentors can use to guide their interactions and build trust with their mentees. Here’s a deeper dive into each element:

M – Mindset

A mentor’s mindset shapes how the brain interprets social cues and sets the tone for the entire relationship. Approaching the mentoring with openness, curiosity, and humility reduces cognitive rigidity and supports a more accurate understanding of the mentee’s experiences. Instead of approaching the relationship as a one-way transfer of knowledge, mentors should see it as a dynamic, collaborative learning process where both people grow and learn. A learning-oriented mindset allows mentors to remain flexible, adapt to the mentee’s needs, and approach challenges as opportunities for shared development.

Key Actions:

  • Be open to new perspectives and ideas.
  • Approach conversations with curiosity, asking questions to understand rather than to judge.
  • Recognize that mentoring is a two-way street where both mentor and mentee can learn.

E – Empathy

Empathy is the cornerstone of psychological safety because it reduces social-evaluation threat and helps regulate the other person’s emotional state. When mentors are fully present, listen deeply, and respond with care, they signal that the mentee is safe from judgment. Rather than rushing to solve problems or offer advice, effective mentors focus on accurately understanding the mentee’s experiences and emotions. This attuned, validating response activates a sense of being seen, heard, and supported, making it easier for the mentee to share openly and engage in meaningful learning.

Key Actions:

  • Listen without interrupting or jumping to conclusions.
  • Validate the mentee’s feelings and experiences without minimizing them.
  • Avoid over-relating by saying things like “I understand” unless you truly do.

N – Nurture

Mentors nurture growth by fostering intrinsic motivation and learning. When they encourage exploration, invite self-reflection, and offer constructive feedback, they activate the psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness that drive sustained development. A supportive mentoring environment reduces performance pressures, increases confidence, and helps mentees build the skills and resilience needed to navigate challenges effectively.

Key Actions:

  • Encourage the mentee to explore new ideas and approaches.
  • Provide thoughtful, actionable feedback that promotes growth.
  • Celebrate progress and milestones, no matter how small.

T – Trust

Trust is the foundation of any successful mentoring relationship because it reduces social vigilance and signals that the relationship is safe from judgment or harm. When mentors are consistent, honest, and transparent, they create predictability that the brain relies on to lower the threat response. This sense of reliability makes it easier for mentees to share challenges, vulnerabilities, and aspirations, opening the door to deeper learning and authentic connection.

Key Actions:

  • Be reliable and consistent in your actions and communication.
  • Create a judgment-free zone where the mentee feels safe to express themselves.
  • Be honest and transparent, even when discussing difficult topics.

O – Opportunity

Mentors expand opportunity by creating the condition that stretch a mentee’s capabilities without overwhelming them. When they offer meaningful challenges, sharing resources, and encouraging deliberate skill-building, they place the mentee in an optimal learning zone where growth is most likely. This balance of support and challenge increases confidence, strengthens competence, and helps mentees recognize and pursue new opportunities they may not have seen on their own.

Key Actions:

  • Identify and share opportunities that align with the mentee’s goals and interests.
  • Encourage the mentee to step out of theircomfort zone and take on new challenges.
  • Support the mentee in developing the skills and confidence needed to seize opportunities.

R – Respect

Respect strengthens psychological safety by signaling that a mentee’s identity, insights, and lived experiences are valued rather than judged. When mentors recognize the mentee’s potential and engage with them as an equal partner, they reduce the social-evaluation threat that can limit openness and learning. Respect also means avoiding assumptions, staying curious about the mentee’s perspective, and fostering a sense of mutual appreciation that supports authentic, trusting connection.

Key Actions:

  • Acknowledge the mentee’s unique strengths and contributions.
  • Avoid imposing your own assumptions or biases on the mentee.
  • Foster a culture of mutual respect and collaboration.

Bringing It All Together

When mentors embody the MENTOR model, they create conditions where psychological safety can take root and grow. This allows for open, honest, and meaningful conversations that fuel personal and professional development. By grounding their interactions in mindset, empathy, nurture, trust, opportunity, and respect, mentors transform their relationships into catalysts for lasting growth.

The MENTOR model is more than a set of principles for mentoring; it’s a guide for building stronger, more authentic connections in every part of life. Whether you are mentoring a colleague, leading a team, or simply having a conversation, these practices help you create spaces where everyone feels valued, heard, and empowered to thrive.

 

 

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Empathy in Action: The Crucial Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Mentorship

To celebrate National Mentoring Month, we are featuring a series of guest posts reflecting on mentorship. This week’s feature from Jeremy Boldt, Manager, Learning and Organization Development with the Argonne Leadership Institute, discusses the role of emotional intelligence in mentoring.

Reflecting on my career in learning and development, as well as my mentoring experiences, both as a mentee and mentor, I’ve realized the importance of people over process. With nearly two decades in organizational learning and development, I’ve noticed a preference for structured processes and metrics. However, influenced by my humanities background (and borrowing a term from one of my Argonne colleagues), I recognize the value of the “squishy” aspects of development—those unmeasured elements that hinge on emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence, a concept explored through various models, highlights how our emotions and personalities impact our experiences. The Emotional Intelligence 2.0 model by Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Graves outlines four key skills: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. These skills are crucial in mentoring:

  • Self-Awareness: Understand your motivations and reactions. Before seeking your mentor’s perspective on a work issue, reflect on your drivers to frame the conversation effectively.
  • Self-Management: Use self-awareness to manage your reactions. If something bothers you, prepare mentally before discussing it with your mentor, fostering a more productive dialogue.
  • Social Awareness: Focus outward to appreciate others. In mentoring, strive to understand and value your partner, enhancing the relationship and mutual learning.
  • Relationship Management: View mentoring as a long-term relationship. Building and maintaining a strong connection requires effort, with both parties responsible for deepening the bond.

Consider these skills as part of a continuous journey: know yourself, manage yourself, understand others, and maintain connections. Mentoring will have its challenges, but embracing discomfort and seeking honest feedback can strengthen trust and foster a robust mentoring relationship.

 

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A Bridge to Learning: Mentorship and the 70/20/10 Approach

To celebrate National Mentoring Month, we are featuring a series of guest posts reflecting on mentorship. This week’s feature from Jeremy Boldt, Manager, Learning and Organization Development with the Argonne Leadership Institute, is about how mentoring supports learning and development goals.

In 2022, LinkedIn Learning published their report on the state of workplace learning. According to the report, “Opportunities to learn and develop new skills” was among the top five factors in employee career decisions. But what does this mean from a practical perspective? Learning and developing new skills are laudable goals, but in a sometimes frantic, change-heavy world, how can we as employees make this happen?

During my nearly 20 years in the world of learning and development, I’ve heard some variation of the phrase, “We need more training” more times than I can count. The problem with this approach is evident – more training means more time away from work, more resources, more money. And there’s no guarantee that sitting down for an online training course or traveling to an in-class workshop will help you improve your skills. Mentoring can be an excellent way to create meaningful, lasting, and timely learning opportunities that go far beyond those of traditional trainings. And it fits right in to the 70/20/10 approach to learning.

If you’re unfamiliar, the 70/20/10 model is a way to help visualize what learning can be when you think beyond traditional approaches to training (e.g., workshops, eLearning courses, etc.) According to this approach, 70% of what we learn comes from doing. Feedback from Argonne employees supports this; in our 2023 learning needs survey, 74.8% of the 522 respondents identified on-the-job experiences in their top 3 for learning opportunities. But in addition to learning by doing, it’s important for us to think about who can help us along that journey. That’s where engaging the right mentor fits in.

It’s easy to think of mentoring as limited to the 20% (relationships) of the 70/20/10 model. Truly impactful mentorship, however, can benefit your on-the-job experiences as well. When you cultivate a solid relationship with your mentor, you’ll often find a ready-made sounding board who can help guide you through your day-to-day work. Have you encountered a particular challenge? Talk to your mentor and ask them if they have ever experienced something similar. What did they do? What worked well? What didn’t work well? Have you recently taken a training course or program? Talk to your mentor about what you learned and how you think you might be able to use it. Having conversations like these not only broaden your perspectives and provide insight into the experiences of others, but it can provide you with actionable suggestions on how you can overcome barriers, address challenges, and lead yourself (and others) on a solid path forward.

Like so many things in life, you’ll get out of a mentoring relationship what you put into it. Whether you are a mentor or a mentee (and many times, they can be one and the same), remember this: mentorship is a great way to build a bridge between what we can learn in more formal settings and what we can do.

 

 

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Energy and Global Security Directorate Celebrates the Completion of the First Year of the Support Administrative Staff Mentoring Program

On February 5th, participants of the Energy and Global Security Directorate (EGS) Support Administrative (SA) Staff Mentoring Program gathered to reflect on their first year of growth and learning and to plan for the next year’s activities and goals. Keith Bradley, Director, National Security Programs and recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Staff Mentor Award, opened the session with welcoming remarks on the importance of mentoring and key elements in building a mentoring relationship.

Bradley shared with the group that everyone benefits from having a mentor and that, “Building trust between the mentor and mentee is critical for success. And I personally think the best mentors are the ones who are not in the mentee’s management chain. The mentor must understand the mentee’s job responsibilities and the overall work environment. But the mentee must feel comfortable asking candid questions and seeking advice without fear of being critically judged. Trust and confidentiality are key to maximizing the benefits of the mentor-mentee relationship.”

Keith Bradley delivers welcome remarks at the EGS-SA Mentoring Program celebration.

EGS Support Administrator Supervisor, Wendy Torres provided an overview of how the EGS-SA Mentoring Program was formed. In November 2017, the Energy & Global Security (EGS) Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Council introduced a Mentor Program for support administrative staff in the directorate in response to overall concern from EGS employees regarding lack of professional development opportunities. This concern, identified through the ‘What’s Next Diversity & Inclusion Climate Survey,’ was on the Council’s proposed list of action items for 2017. While it was agreed that a Mentoring Program would be valuable for all EGS employees, it was thought that the support administrative staff could serve as a pilot program. A discussion, facilitated by Postdoctoral Program Lead Tina Henne and EGS D&I Council Chair Molly Finster, with the EGS support administrative staff, successfully confirmed the need for and interest in a mentoring program.

As a follow-up to the facilitated discussion, the D&I Council mentor subcommittee surveyed the EGS support administrative staff on topics of interest, areas of expertise, and desired program type (i.e. mentor-mentee, group, or both). Based on their individual feedback, Torres, facilitated 13 mentor-mentee pairings and identified many topics for group mentorship events (such as procurement, travel, honorariums, BOX, etc.). In November 2017, a formal kick-off of the program served as the perfect opportunity to make introductions and to review the guidance document prepared by the D&I Council subcommittee, which provided useful tips and tools for mentor-mentee pairings. Throughout the year, the turnout at group mentorship brown bag events was an obvious indicator of success, averaging 22 attendees per event!

Following Torres’ recap of the program, IAEA Training Coordinator and EGS D&I Mentor Subcommittee Member, Natalie Zender, provided a summary of feedback from the Mentoring Program participants based on a survey that was sent by the EGS D&I Council at 6 months to check-in. Nearly 50% of respondents attributed the program to improving their skillset and other positive feedback included feelings of empowerment and benefits of networking. Still, opportunities for improvement are evident and mainly reside with the mentor-mentee pairings, which for almost a quarter of respondents are no longer active.

Susan Podoba (left) and Wendy Torres (right) lead a group activity at the EGS-SA Mentoring Program Celebration.

To close the event, Mentor Subcommittee Members, EGS Directorate Executive Assistant, Susan Podoba, and AMD Division Executive Assistant, Sharon Nykolyshyn, led an exercise where participants shared their ideas for future group mentoring sessions, brown bag training and professional development topics and renewed interest in being a mentor, mentee or both.

More than providing an avenue for staff to find a mentor, the EGS-SA Mentoring Program is helping to build a culture of mentorship, which goes hand in hand with modeling Argonne’s Core Values: Impact, Safety, Respect, Integrity, and Teamwork. Mentoring is a professional relationship that promotes talent development and trust by bringing employees together to share knowledge, skills, and experiences. We can all benefit from wider access to opportunities which aids to professional and personal goals to build a more capable, satisfied, and committed team.

About the Mentoring Program, Zender said, “It’s been a rewarding experience to be part of the creation of this mentor program – this mentor culture, really. The act of collaborating with the subcommittee on the development of this alone was a great opportunity for me to participate in a sort of group mentorship as I learned so much from their experiences and feedback. And, I hope to continue to use mentorship as a tool for the rest of my career.”

Creating a culture of mentorship is a continuous journey of listening, learning, and practicing. Sharing her own perspective as a mentor, Wendy Torres notes, “Mentoring is one of the best gifts you can give someone else. It helps to bring the best out of somebody else’s talents.”